A. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns insulation units for covering elongated bodies to prevent heat transfer between the bodies and the surrounding environment. More particularly, the invention concerns a thermal insulation unit for securely covering an elongated body such as a pipe to protect the elongated body from the high temperatures which may be encountered in furnaces.
B. History of the Prior Art
In the prior art various means were used to protect elongated bodies such as water pipes from elevated temperatures found in the surrounding environment. Many of such means employed the use of refractory materials which were either molded around or otherwise placed around the elongated body. Most such refractory materials were brittle and frequently cracked when any stress was applied to the pipe such as the stress encountered when the pipes were used to support steel slabs moving through a furnace. Attempts were made to reduce the cracking of such refractory materials by applying the refractory materials to the elongated body in separate sections. All of such attempts were not considered satisfactory since gaps or spaces were always left between the sections which permitted heat from the surrounding environment to reach the body. Attempts to hold the refractory materials together and to fill such gaps and spaces with plastic material were then made; however, the means for holding the refractory materials and for filling the spaces involved components which were not sufficiently heat resistant for many applications.
A recent approach to the problem was to use resilient heat resistant materials in the form of split rings which could be placed over the pipe or other elongated body. Numerous such rings were placed over the body so the faces of the rings were in direct contact with and abutted the faces of other rings, thus permitting the entire elongated body to be completely covered. While this recent approach to the problem of protecting the pipe or other elongated body is an improvement over other prior art methods difficulties are still encountered. For example, when the pipe or other elongated body vibrates, as is the case when the pipe supports a steel slab moving through a furnace, rings become misaligned and spaces between the rings develop, thus permitting heat from the furnace to reach the body.